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Risk of power outages, flooding as winter storm moves into Sunday

The ice storm continuing to pelt parts of southern Ontario will be joined by heavy winds on Sunday, potentially downing trees and powerlines while causing power outage concerns, Environment Canada said

The weather agency issued a wind warning for gusts up to 90 km/h in the Hamilton area for Sunday morning, which could cause damage to buildings, toss loose objects and break tree branches.

Both Hydro One and Toronto Hydro said it has crews ready to respond to outages 24/7, and additional resources are on standby this weekend.

Toronto’s conservation authority also warned that the inclement weather could cause flooding in some parts of the city.

The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority said the high amount of precipitation in the area means rivers could rise by Sunday night and into Monday morning.

“It is difficult to determine the extent of flooding possible, so TRCA advises the public to stay alert to changing conditions,” read a statement on the organization’s website.

Peter Kimbell, a meteorologist with Environment Canada, said some communities in southwestern Ontario near Sarnia and Lake Erie could get up to 40 millimetres of freezing rain – more than the 30 millimetres that hit Toronto in 2013, which left parts of Ontario without power for days.

“It’s a lot of freezing rain, no question about it,” said Kimbell. “It certainly has the potential to cause a significant impact for sure.”

Toronto was expected to only receive 15 millimetres of freezing rain, while Kimbell said areas like Hamilton could receive between 20 and 30 millimetres by Sunday.

The sloppy weather is expected to continue into Sunday until temperatures rise to above freezing sometime in the afternoon.